Just turned 21 dead end job and thinking about trucking.

Discussion in 'Questions From New Drivers' started by Alzrn, Apr 22, 2021.

  1. Chinatown

    Chinatown Road Train Member

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    You don't. You posted about YRC, so I posted about their cdl program for the OP to read.
     
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  3. Chinatown

    Chinatown Road Train Member

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    U.S. Navy
    Right; sleep in a bunk instead of a hole in the ground.
    Four hot meals a day.
    Women in every port.
    Coast Guard is also a good deal. They do some overseas runs sometimes.
    ~
    America's Navy Official Site® - Forged By The Sea
    United States Navy Recruiting | Navy.com
    Find Your Calling Below The Sea, On The Sea, In The Air, and Beyond The Stars.
    Online Application · Live Chat Available · Several Ways to Join
    ~
    Join - United States Coast Guard
    United States Coast Guard > Join
    ways to serve the coast guard Academy
    ~
     
    Last edited: Apr 22, 2021
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  4. roundhouse

    roundhouse Road Train Member

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    Right now , every trade is begging for workers.
    Hvac, plumbing , electrical , welding , you name it , the work is there .

    I saw an ad for a large equipment rental place thats hiring mechanics , and will hire with no experience .
     
  5. LoneRanger

    LoneRanger Road Train Member

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    If I had to start my life again military is what I would have joined. Your to young to get into trucking. It’s a dead end job the way it’s going.

    learn a trade is another suggestion. Plumbing, electrical, practically anything other then trucking.
     
  6. Canadianhauler21

    Canadianhauler21 Heavy Load Member

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    I got in at 21 as well, same with another member of this site. We still drive to the day, I'm 24 now. I have made pretty decent money since I started, triple what I was making working my dead end baggage handler job. But I will tell you this, make sure you have a plan B as well. Trucking for most people is an option they take when they have nothing to fall back on in my opinion.

    I love trucking but it's terrible for your health in the long term, and the drivers out here (cars and trucks) are terrifying.

    Get on the road if you really want it, you can make it work.
     
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  7. sirhwy

    sirhwy Medium Load Member

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    My nephew is 42 years old, and retired out of the USAF at 40 years of age with a monthly check. He bought a house on Rocky Top in TN and drinks a lot. He could get a job if he wanted and eventually retire again with another monthly check, if he did it right. See where I’m going here? Think about things a bit before you jump in.
     
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  8. Ridgeline

    Ridgeline Road Train Member

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    Take the shop to small claims court to recover the money, pa like Michigan has court ruling and laws that if the vehicle is on their property, they are responsible for that vehicle. If it gets damaged on their equipment by their personal, they are to repair or replace the parts they damage.
     
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  9. roundhouse

    roundhouse Road Train Member

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    I agree.
    The problem with trucking has several angles working against it.

    the barrier to entry is low, it requires a short amount of school, less than three months in the case of community colleges followed by a few weeks of on the job training.
    The problem with the low barrier to entry is that immigrants and convicted felons will also be competing for the same job.

    there’s an unlimited supply of immigrants, willing to do the job for less money than you are.

    The trucking companies that have their own training will not train you for free, they require you to sign a personal loan of $7,000 to $10,000 and if you leave before the term of the loan is up, 12 to 24’months then you have to repay the loan.
    This is how the companies trap you into staying with their crappy company.


    another issue is there is NO room for advancement, or very limited.
    You basically start at or near the top pay.
    As opposed to other trades like hvac or becoming a licensed Electrictian or plumber , the sky’s the limit for those trades , and those trades don’t have cops waiting around every corner to grab some of your money or write you tickets that will follow you around for years.

    The military has plenty of different careers available besides infantry bullet stoppers.
    And if you score well on the ASVAB, the world is your oyster.
    I have one nephew who scored an 86 and was told he could have any job on the military he wanted.
    The military will train you for any job that you qualify for, and they will require long term commitments for jobs that require expensive training like helicopter pilots etc . there is a shortage of pilots worldwide coming up soon.

    If you’re young , single , don’t have a mortgage or any major commitments , and don’t have any previous criminal history and haven’t taken a lot of ADHD medication , or other drugs, I’d study for and take the ASVAB and see how you do.

    you can easily make $65k your second year in trucking , and there are some niche markets like heavy haul oversize loads where you can earn more, but again, the near you can hope for is about $60-70-80k and home one weekend a month.
    but Long term it’s generally a crappy job, you’re gone all the time and get treated like dog poop stuck to someone’s shoe by everyone you deal with.

    and almost every trucking company pays by the mile , except you will spend several hours every day working and it rolling and thus not getting paid for your work.
    When you spend a half hour every morning and every evening doing a pre and post trip inspection on your truck , you’re doing it for free,
    When you spend an hour every day refueling , you’re doing it for free. When you have a flat tire and are waiting three hours to get it repaired , that’s right, you’re doing it for free.
    And when you’re waiting for hours to get loaded or unloaded, guess who’s not getting paid for it ?
    No other industry expects people to work 70 or 80 hours a week and not get paid overtime .

    The only way you will get paid for doing all that is if you’re getting paid by the hour while working at a company that has a Union.

    You can make decent money as an owner operator, but usually only after you have spent a couple of years getting treated like dog poop and if you’re an owner operator you have to be able to do a lot of the repairs on your truck yourself to stay profitable , you can’t pay a shop to do the repairs, it takes too long, costing you too much on lost revenue and it costs too much, plus you’re gone all the time.

    I too was in a dead end job and started trucking to because I had no other skills, but it was also a different time in the late 80s.
    Two ways, it was a lot easier to get into trucking then, amd ot laid a lot more than it does today.
    In the late 80s and early 90s you could earn the same dollar amount that you’re going to earn today.
    Only today, 30 years later that same dollar amount won’t buy anything .
    I had a dead end job, was a full time state job with good benefits and every time they had a vacancy and advertised an opening , 200-300 people would apply for a job that paid not quite double minimum wage. But after taxes I was bringing home , y’all are gonna laugh at this , $800 a month.
    I stumbled into a lease purchase deal with a big trucking company, which most people fail at, and lose a lot of money, except I didn’t know that, I was able to buy a used truck for no money down and they took the truck payment out of my pay.
    the first month I was trucking I brought home $5000 instead of the $800 I was used to making.
    The problem is , today 30 years later $5000 a month is still about all you’re going to earn trucking.

    .and it was a lot lot harder to get into any good paying job,
    I really wanted to be a game warden and worked for several years at a state park hoping to get a shot at being hired as a game warden, but if you didn’t have political connections you were not getting hired, if your uncle wasn’t a state representative or something, it wasn’t ever going to happen.

    today , that same game and fish department is actively recruiting. Because they have empty positions and no qualified applicants . Most people can’t qualify , because nowdays everyone has Been arrested or has taken too many drugs or can’t pass the physical fitness test or can’t pass the psychological tests.

    if I was your age again and didn’t want to get into the military I’d be trying to get a job at a fire department. The 24 on and 48 off work schedule leaves plenty of time for a side hustle or lots of hunting and fishing .




    Here’s a thread about what your first year in trucking will most likely be like
    The rookie
     
  10. harold6091

    harold6091 Light Load Member

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    back when i started, the best choice was scheneider. Good pay and free school. hit them up and see whats up. do not get tied to a company for a year just because school. in chicago there are plenty that will hire you with 6 month exp paying you .50 cents solo
     
  11. Ridgeline

    Ridgeline Road Train Member

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    Advancement to what?

    there are only a few steps, outside moving up in management.

    And everyone can move unlike most other industries.
     
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